Eddie Cochran

(b. 3 October 1938, Albert Lea, Minnesota, USA, d. 17 April 1960, Wiltshire, England)

Although Cochran’s career was brief, during which time he topped the charts only once, he is now regarded as one of the finest ever rock ‘n’ roll artists.  In 1956 his cameo performance of Twenty Flight Rock in the film The Girl Can’t Help It gave this handsome James Dean lookalike the career boost he needed and he was signed by Liberty Records.  The song Summertime Blues has been recorded and performed by dozens of artists, and is now one of the most famous rock songs of all time. Cochran was killed in Chippenham, Wiltshire, when his taxi suffered a burst tire and veered off the road and crashed. Gene Vincent was a badly injured passenger, as was Sharon Sheeley, co-writer of his posthumous hit Something Else, (which became a major hit for the Sex Pistols in 1979).  His biggest record was the inappropriately titled Three Steps To Heaven which topped the UK chart shortly after his untimely death.